Seems like they were monkeying around in the writers’ room.

Little House on the Prairie cast remembers bizarre costar who only appeared once: ‘You never see it again’

Seems like they were monkeying around in the writers' room.

By Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino is a writer at *. *She has written for * *since 2025. Her work has appeared in NBC News, Vulture, GQ, and InStyle.

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December 30, 2025 4:00 p.m. ET

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The 'Little House on the Prairie' cast. Credit:

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Many classic film and TV shows feature an unlikely primate costar — and *Little House on the Prairie *is no different.

However, *Little House *star Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder, told costar Patrick Labyorteaux that building an entire episode around an orangutan felt like "we jumped this huge shark."

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Labyorteaux, who played Andy Garvey on the show, recently brought a few of his old castmates together on his podcast *The Patrick LabyorSheaux. *The actors discussed their least favorite episodes over the course of nine seasons.

Butler revealed that he didn't like season 9, episode 20, "For the Love of Blanche." The story revolves around Isaiah Edwards (Victor French) promising a dying traveler that he will take care of his baby. The baby turns out to be an orangutan named Blanche.

Isaiah Edwards (Victor French) adopts Blanche the orangutan in season 9, episode 20.

"It's like, 'Where does this come from?'" Butler said. "And of course, Mr. Edwards adopts the orangutan. And we never see the orangutan again. You go through this whole moment and you never see it again."

Technically, the adoption was only temporary. Blanche gets sent to live at a zoo at the end of the episode, which is likely a better fate than what Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) had in store for the animal. Still, it was a bit out there for *Little House*, the cast admits.

Isaiah Edwards (Victor French) promised to take care of a dying man's 'baby,' which turned out to be Blanche the orangutan.

While it may have seemed out of the ordinary, Labyorteaux joked about how trendy it was to have a simian star in Hollywood at the time.

"It was good enough for Clint Eastwood," he said, referencing 1978's *Every Which Way but Loose.* "They did two movies with Clyde. Why not?"**

Listen to the full episode of *The Patrick LabyorSheaux* with the cast of *Little House on the Prairie *below.

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